by Nina George

copyright ©2013

Translation copyright © 2015 by Simon Pare

My dear daughter gifted me this book wrapped in brown paper with a brief description.  She had picked it up, along with another one which I haven’t opened yet, at a book store in Colorado.  Imagine my delighted surprise when I did open the book and began to read and it turned out to be this lovely story of a journey of not only down a river and over land to a seaside town, but more importantly the journey through grief, regret, love and growing up.

Jean Perdu owns a floating bookstore in Paris and he not only sells books to his customers, he prescribes books to help them along with their lives. I love this idea of a literary pharmacy. In chapter four Jean gives a description of what he is trying to do for people:

 ” I wanted to treat feelings that are not recognized as afflictions and are never diagnosed by doctors.  All those little feelings and emotions no therapist is interested in, because they are apparently too minor and intangible.  The feeling that washes over you when another summer nears its end.  Or when you recognize that you haven’t got your whole life left to find out where you belong.  Or the sense of grief when a friendship doesn’t develop as you thought, and you have to continue your search for a lifelong companion.  Or those birthday morning blues.  Nostalgia for the air of your childhood.  Things like that.”

  …As the grandmother and girl said their goodbyes and went on their way, Perdu reflected that it was a common misconception that booksellers looked after books.

They look after people.

Unfortunately, Jean Perdu hasn’t found the right book to prescribe for his own life.  He is a heartbroken man and it takes a series of small events for him to unmoor his bookstore barge and float down the river with two cats and a slightly unwelcome young author, to start to heal his heart.  Along the way he connects with friends old and new, a couple of whom join the them on the barge.

Ms. George’s characters are three dimensional; they are not perfect people and as in real life, they each have their own issues to figure out. Their journeys are not always linear and also just like life and grief it is full of set-backs, false starts, highs, lows and hard emotional work.  However, it sometimes felt unrealistic in how perfectly the characters realized this, and realizing this, took the time they needed to figure it out.  Not often in life does one realize how much time and work it takes to go on these kinds of emotional (literal and figurative) journeys and even more seldom do life’s circumstances allow it in this whole hearted manner. Still, this story is a gift for the heart.